The invention relates to a toy building set comprising building elements with at least two lateral walls that define a width for the building elements, and having a top face from which coupling studs extend, said coupling studs being arranged in parallel rows on said top face with spaces between said rows, and a bottom featuring a cavity for receiving coupling studs provided on other building elements, said toy building set furthermore comprising a toy vehicle with wheels that are mounted in pairs on opposite sides of the vehicle.
Such toy building sets are known from e.g. WO-82/04195 and FR-2 639 556. The toy vehicles disclosed in these publications are only suitable for driving on plane surfaces and there is no provision for guiding the vehicles.
Toy train sets of wood and with rail elements are known that can be interconnected to form a railway. The rail elements are provided with two grooves with a U-shaped bottom, the distance between said grooves corresponding to the distance between the wheels of the toy train to the left and to the right, respectively, wherein each wheel is mounted on the train by means of a pin or a nail that extends through the hub of the wheel. This toy train set contains straight as well as curved rail elements, and the wheels of the toy train are guided by the grooves of the rail elements which they follow.
Moreover a toy is known is from DE-A1-3 534 222 that shows a wheel construction for a vehicle that runs in a rail element with two grooves, the distance between which corresponds to the distance between the wheels of the vehicle The driving face is constituted by the bottom of the grooves while the elevated area between the grooves constitutes an internal guide area. Besides, the toy features an external guide area which is constituted by the material beyond the grooves.
DE-A-2 707 056 features a toy train with rail elements that can be interconnected end-to-end for the construction of a railway. Moreover, there is provided a plate element with a system of grooves in two directions transversally to each other whereby flanges on the train wheel can be received in and guided by said grooves. The rail elements can be combined with the plate element at the edges thereof which thereby constitutes a rail element.
In the known toys comprising a vehicle and rail elements, the toy is guided by its wheels co-operating with the edges of the rail element groovesxe2x80x94in case of both straight and curved rail elements. When the vehicle follows the curvature of a curved rail element, the vehicle is thus forced to follow the curvature even if the wheels of the vehicle are unable to assume the right swing position This means, on the one hand, that the vehicle does not realistically imitate a swinging movement and, on the other, that it is necessary to overcome a relatively large friction between the wheels of the vehicle and the grooves of the rail elements when the vehicle is advanced in a curved rail element. Moreover, there is a risk that the vehicle will be derailed beyond the edge of the guide areas instead of following the curve if the curve is too acute or in case the speed is too high.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a toy building set that comprises a vehicle which is adapted to be guided by other toy building elements without being associated with the same drawbacks as the prior art toys. It is furthermore an object of the invention to provide a toy that presents novel and more flexible play options with novel alternative ways of constructing a railway for a toy train.
This is obtained by providing that the wheels in each pair of the toy vehicle are arranged at such distance from each other that there is room for an integer multiple of rows of coupling studs between said wheels, and that both wheels of a pair are adapted to permit simultaneous rolling contact with the top face of a building element.
Preferably the rail elements are configured as building elements provided with coupling means to allow them to be mutually interconnected for forming a railway that may be closed, on which the vehicle can perform a ring tour, or it may be an open-end rail leading from one destination to another.
The vehicle can have a width that corresponds to the width of the rail elements while the wheels of the vehicle are so arranged that their outsides are substantially aligned with the sides of the vehicle. This is particularly advantageous it the toy set is compatible with a toy building set such that the rail elements as well as the vehicle itself can be constituent toy building elements in that toy building set.
The internal guide area can consist of a plane area in the form or an elevation that protrudes from the driving face, and which extends across the major part of the length of the rail element, or it may consist of upwardly protruding coupling studs arranged in a regular pattern, the distance between the outside of two adjacent coupling studs corresponding to or being slightly smaller than the distance between the wheels of the vehicle. If the internal guide area is constituted of coupling studs, the size and positioning of such will preferably coincide with the coupling studs featured in a toy building set that is compatible therewith.
Preferably the toy vehicle comprises a wagon bottom provided with a shaft bearing for each shaft, each shaft bearing comprising two downwardly open recesses that are spaced apart and have U-shaped or V-shaped bottoms on which the wagon bottom rests on said shafts. Upwardly rounded configuration of the recesses will thus cause the vehicle to be self-aligning.
Moreover, the wheels of the vehicle can be so arranged that their outsides are substantially aligned with the sides of the vehicle, and in a preferred embodiment the vehicle is provided with coupling studs on the top face. Such configuration of the vehicle allows it to be a part of a toy building set with corresponding coupling studs as mentioned above.